I pray this trip will be like no other...that it be safe and fulfilling and that our lives are changed for the better as a result.

This trip has been some three years in the making . . .

Now it is here.

I have been in Japanese classes since late September 05 and I have learned quite a bit but I know well that there is so much more to learn. My sensei, Tanaka-san, has been such a great teacher. I have learned, not only about the language, but of the Japanese culture . . . and she has been invaluable in the planning of this trip. It would be great if she were coming along.

As the flight prepares to leave, I feel the sleep, that I have avoided for almost 24 hours, coming on.

[A "nikki" is a journal. I will be posting excerpts from the journal I
kept while on this two week trip to Japan. Occasionally, I will insert
my current reflections, marked in italics, among the journal selections.]